


Family of Fortunetellers

by LaggingUniverse



Category: Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Complete, Harpies, Mentions of alcohol, Other, Slow Burn, Witches, just one harpy actually, mentions of spectra phantom, no dreads just sass, this was an idea I had rolling around in my head for awhile, with actual fire probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-04-13 12:43:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14112606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaggingUniverse/pseuds/LaggingUniverse
Summary: Volt and his siblings are future-seeing witches who don't have much to share but are still willing to help a wayward harpy if it means they survive their latest prediction.Inspired by Giza's Witch AU.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Witch!au: Meeting With The Destination](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12481752) by [GizaMatox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GizaMatox/pseuds/GizaMatox). 



Volt had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, staring straight ahead into empty space. Dotty and Caeb already knew what was happening, and they stuck close by as passing strangers gave them odd glances.

Dotty clutched her grocery bags, glancing around to see if anyone was going to try to take advantage of Volt’s temporary incapacitation. She knew she wouldn’t win a fight, but she could certainly buy time.

Caeb was a bit less wary, and watched his older brother’s face. Volt continued to stare for another thirty seconds, then blinked and looked down at him.

“What’ja see?” Caeb asked impatiently as Volt reached over and ruffled his hair.

“Someone is going to break into our house.” Volt said in a voice that was a bit too unconcerned for what he’d just said.

 _“What.”_ Dotty yell-whispered.

“And before we get there, we have one more errand to run.” Volt turned towards the crosswalk and spared only a quick glance for any approaching cars before he strode across the street.

“We’re not going to fight them? What are they going to take? They aren’t going to trash the house, are they?” Dotty rattled off question after question as Volt kept walking. Caeb scanned ahead for landmarks, trying to find where Volt was taking them so he could make a prediction before Dotty did--

“Oh, the Enchanted Forest.” Dotty sighed as she finally fell into step with her brothers. “For...lice-killing and Antibacterial potions. Lovely.”

“Mister Grav is gonna lock the door soon.” Caeb offered Volt, with a pointed glare to his sister. “We gotta run.”

Volt didn’t hesitate to break into a sprint, scooping Caeb into his arms. Dotty hugged her load of groceries to her chest to keep herself from kicking them as she tried to keep up with her brothers. The cobblestone streets of the Yuophis outskirts were almost completely empty at this hour, and the few shops that hadn’t been closed yet were in the process of being locked up.

The three skidded to a stop in front of a bright blue shop being closed by a man with similarly blue hair. He gave them all a puzzled stare just as Caeb spoke up.

“We wanna buy your juices.”

“Potions, Caeb, Potions.” Dotty corrected. Volt lowered him to the sidewalk.

“Sorry to bother you with such a last minute request, but...” Volt trailed off as he met the nature witch’s stare.

Gus regarded the Luster siblings with an air of annoyance. “Well, I am very sorry, but we are closed right now. I’ll reopen The Enchanted Forest at sunrise tomorrow and you can all come back and bother me then.”

Volt and Caeb were about to protest, but Dotty stopped them with a raised hand and stepped forward. Gus watched her curiously as she walked up to the wooden porch steps, stopping just before them to toss her head back.

“Well, that’s a shame.” She said. “For your Gladiolus flowers, I mean.”

Gus paused, and Volt barely hid a smirk by scratching his nose. Dotty’s predictions were the most limited in scope of the Luster siblings, but she always got the details right.

“...What about my gladiolus flowers?” Gus inquired slowly, suspiciously. “I’ve already planted them in a spot in my greenhouse where they won’t be bothered by wind, and they were treated for thrips when I was storing the corms last winter.”

Dotty smiled. “Yarrow powder and neem oil. I’ll keep you from losing a few thousand dollars for your most popular flower come Mother’s Day if you give us what we need.”

Gus leaned against the support column on his porch. He knew that the Luster siblings weren’t in the business of lying about their true powers and predictions, and Dotty in particular was often to be trusted on matters of monetary value, but he wasn’t fully sold yet. “I’ll give you all the yarrow powder you want, but neem oil is in short supply until I expand my gardens enough to plant my own tree. I want actual money, _and_ another prediction.”

“We spent all our money on groceries.” Dotty leveled her gaze with the nature witch. “We only have predictions.”

“Then you’ll have to do with yarrow alone, I’m afraid.”

“Then _I’m_ afraid you won’t be hearing a single word out of me about your precious gladiolus.”

The two were at a stalemate, the next one to speak would be the loser of the haggle. Volt was becoming a bit restless, turning his vision over in his mind and worrying.

“I have a prediction.” Caeb said suddenly. “It’s about mushmhph.”

That last word was courtesy of Volt slapping his hand over Caeb’s mouth at the last moment. The youngest Luster wasn’t very well versed in the bartering of information yet, and he often loved to proclaim his visions so that he could get compliments and recognition. This was a habit his older siblings desperately hoped he would break, if only because his visions had Volt’s scope and Dotty’s precision.

“We have your second prediction.” Dotty declared. “Now, you’ll give us exactly what we came for or you’ll get neither.”

“Deal.” Gus said quickly, unlocking his store and disappearing inside. The siblings quickly followed.

The Enchanted Forest’s underground store room was dimly lit by thick vines crisscrossing the ceiling, growing on the exposed wires of broken light fixtures and hanging full of unripe light-fruit. Gus plucked one of the larger ones to read off the names of plants carved onto wooden drawers, then dropped it into the pocket of his apron and opened two on either side of him. He slid the top off a lidded box and scooped out some yarrow powder into a clean sack, and then from a locked drawer reluctantly chose a few black vials of neem oil. He put the cargo into a small crate and shoved the door open with his hip so he wouldn’t have to take his hands off of his wares. Keeping a careful eye on the ‘potions’, he let the heavy door swing shut before he turned and almost crashed right into the expectant Luster siblings.

“Back.” Gus growled, and the trio complied. Gus swept past them and led the way to an old antique table with peeling paint and a wobbly leg. He sat down, setting the box on the table in front of him without letting go of it. Dotty sat directly in front of him, Volt standing behind her like a bodyguard and Caeb trying to get Dotty to share her seat. Dotty begrudgingly let Caeb sit on her lap.

“Now,” Gus said. “The predictions.”

“Whose would you like first?” Dotty asked as Caeb started drumming his hands on the table.

“Yours. About my Gladiolus. Make it quick.”

Caeb's drumming stopped abruptly as Dotty closed her eyes and evened her breathing. Gus took out his phone and set it to record audio as backup for his usual recording method. He reached under the table and set down a tall, blue echo flower in a pot between them. It seemed to lean in as Dotty began her prediction.

“A great change will come about in your life, inviting danger and intrigue. The Council of Elders arrive at your door, to inquire about an extended leave. A fight, and a fire, that you forget you can’t yet control, burns mercilessly through the eaves. You cannot put it out before you chase them away, and by that time your greenhouse is half ashes and smoking leaves. The Gladiolus may yet be saved, if by the end of spring you and Gaia make your peace.”

Dotty sighed and slumped against the back of her chair. Volt pressed his fingers to her neck to check her temperature, and noticed she had broken into a cold sweat.

Satisfied, Gus took a rag and draped it over the flower, then took out his wand to levitate it to a clear spot on an already cluttered counter a few meters away. He tossed the bag of yarrow powder across the table, and readied another echo flower. He paused when he realised Volt was glaring at him.

“Er...is she alright?” he asked awkwardly as Volt snatched up the bag.

“I’m okay, really.” Dotty insisted as Volt made Caeb get off her lap. Volt dragged another chair over to the table so that Caeb could sit, and helped him lean close to the flower.

“Second prediction. Then we get our potion and out of your hair.” Volt said. Gus nodded, and all eyes were on Caeb. The youngest Luster closed his eyes and took one deep breath.

“There’s a man who wants to buy mushrooms from you for a lot of money. They’re...Golden Drop mushrooms. I can see a future where you don’t have any and...there’s a really angry dragon in that one, and I can’t see very far so I guess I die. But if you do give him the ones he wants, he writes you a check for 400 dollars. The dragon is still there, but there’s also...a…”

Caeb’s eyebrows furrowed. Gus gripped his apron under the table as Volt checked Caeb’s temperature.

“There’s...a visitor...a bird, a child...running away...a house, the woods...our haven for awhile...a sword, a statue...it’s you or him...a mermaid, a hoard...ask her for anything but gold...you’re blinded...by power by weakness by love by hate by life by death by magic by orbs by titans that stand between you and the path where we all live. You alone will be our downfall. I cannot change your mind no matter what I say. Except one thing.

Mira Firmin will come to you, she will have no money, and she will be desperate. No matter what her brother says, do not turn her or her friends away. Do not let any of them die, or the dragon comes…”

Volt grabbed Caeb’s shoulders and shook him. Caeb’s eyes fluttered open and for just a moment he seemed perfectly fine.

“I can’t see after that,” he said cheerfully. “So I guess I die in that future, too.”

Caeb’s eyes rolled into his head and he collapsed into his brother’s arms. Gus tossed a rag over the flower, but he didn’t move it from the table.

“You don’t have enough oil in that box.” Dotty’s voice seemed weak from her seat.

“I--”

“All of it.” Dotty and Volt said at the same time, and Gus rushed off to get their potion.


	2. Chapter 2

Volt carried all of the grocery and potion bags on his arms while Dotty balanced an unconscious Caeb on her back. They were almost home, and Volt had just finished explaining the intruder situation to her. 

“So, you’re sure this thing--I mean this guy--is going to be worth a whole jar?”

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get more food into him besides strawberry jelly.” Volt chuckled, but it was an empty laugh. 

“You’re still worried about Caeb’s prediction.” Dotty observed as they came up to the front door of their building. It was an old suburban house, part of an ungated neighborhood by the woods. It was slightly apart from the rest of the houses in the area, and had a painted wooden sign with the words “Wizard Proxy” in large bold letters embedded into the front lawn. Listed underneath was a newer, less faded sign that continued the advertisement, “Predictions and Fortunes, palm reading and tarot, walk-ins welcome”

“Should I not be worried?” Volt asked as he set down the grocery bags in front of the door. “It was the darkest prediction he’s made in awhile. And he’s been making nothing but dark predictions for weeks.” 

Caeb suddenly snored loudly from his perch. Even in his sleep, Dotty could see that his normally childish face seemed creased with worry.

“Anyway, we’ll talk about it tomorrow.” Volt fished out the aforementioned jelly jar from a bag and a set of rusted keys from his pocket. “If we wait any longer he might fly away.”

Volt cracked open the jar, and the smell of sugary fruit preserves immediately hit Dotty’s senses.  _ We’re going to have to wait until next grocery day to get more,  _ Dotty glumly thought to herself as Volt unlocked the door as quietly as he could.  _ And until then it’s gonna be plain peanut butter sandwiches and milk for all of us. _

In a practised move, Volt quickly opened the door in one brief  _ squeak _ rather than the laborious cacophony of noise that the ancient hinges usually inflicted on his ears. The intruder would still hear it, but the plan was for Volt to make himself known. Before he entered, Volt held out the jelly jar, presumably to let the smell waft through the air before his did. 

Dotty stayed by the door to guard the groceries, keeping her hand close to a concealed homemade pistol in her jacket pocket. It was a witch’s weapon, much less effective than a normal gun, but also cheaper and (since it was made for firing a single sleep dart at close range) much less deadly. It was a familiar position for her to be in, though she was normally not burdened with a sleeping brother and about a dozen bags of groceries strewn about her feet. Usually her job was keeping watch on customers that looked like they would take a prediction of bad events as a personal insult, the way Volt’s job was to charge them as much as possible for showing them a deck of cards with funny pictures and pretending they had anything to do with fate.

Volt entered the house, briskly but silently. He stalked through the darkened halls of his own house-turned-fortuneteller’s parlour, observing everything around him without disturbing so much as a dust bunny. 

The front hall was untouched, as was the waiting room. Volt had already seen this from his vision in the street. What he didn’t see was the exact room he would find the intruder in, which he needed to find quickly.

He swept past the room where he entertained customers. It used to be a living room before Volt stapled paisley bed sheets and antique tassel curtains to the walls to add atmosphere and hide wires. The wires were for the projector under the crystal ball table, which was an old coffee table Volt had sawed a hole into and covered with a tablecloth that he’d given a similar treatment. Everything, from the extra large floor pillows to the bead strings dangling from the light fixture, was untouched.

Volt held out the keys he still hadn’t pocketed and unlocked a second door hidden by a curtain and opened it in the same manner he did with the front door. 

He stuck his head in and locked eyes with the monster.

A boy, at first glance, perhaps just a few years older than Dotty. But on closer inspection his blue eyes had pupils too large for any human. His face was smeared with blood and dirt, and his hair was so dirty and unkempt that Volt couldn’t tell what color it was supposed to be. 

In fact, it took him a moment to realise they were actually feathers. The boy’s entire body was covered in a ragged, patchy coat of feathers that clung to a body that might was well have just been a rib cage wrapped in filthy, frighteningly pale skin. Volt could see lice crawling around on his body, not bothering to be discreet to such a decrepit host. 

The boy was standing across the room, which happened to be a kitchen lit by the sunset peeking through a broken window. Every surface was covered in broken glass and blood from the boy’s multiple wounds. The boy himself stood by the empty fridge, which would have at least had two eggs if he had come that morning before the siblings boiled them for breakfast. But now it held only a half-rotted pomegranate that the boy was eating like an apple, and some individually wrapped cheese slices that were so old that they were cracked and rigid. Volt was a bit glad the boy had ignored them, they looked dangerously sharp. 

Volt had seen many different outcomes to this encounter. Most of them ended badly for everyone involved, but there was one route that led to the least amount of pain down the line. 

Volt held out the jar, then in a slow, meticulous motion that he made sure the boy was following, set it down on the ground off to his right. He then straightened up, clasped his hands in front of him, and began humming a tune.

The boy could smell the sugar by the time the jar was on the floor. He made sure to finish his pomegranate first, in case it was a trap. He slurped the mold and juice off his hand-talons, observing the large man that had nearly startled him into flying away. 

The man was twice as tall as him, strong and well-fed, as humans usually were. But what was unusual was his behavior. Humans usually either wanted you dead, or wanted to catch you and hold you in a cage. This human was probably the latter, but he wasn’t really acting like it.

The boy crept forwards, his feet-talons crunching through broken glass. Volt winced at the noise, imagining broken glass on his own bare feet, but he continued humming.

And that was another thing about this human, the humming. Normally, trapper humans tried to mimic the songs of actual birds to embarrassingly bad results. But this human wasn’t trying to copy a bird’s song. It was...hard for him to describe. The tune was slow and deep, and seemed to come more from his chest than his mouth. The song itself was a lot longer than birdsong, with a beginning, climax and ending that marked every repetition. It also never changed its notes or its urgency the way a bird’s song might in response to a challenging song or an approaching predator. It was totally, unashamedly a human’s song.

The boy came up to the jar on the floor. Volt kept humming, but refused to break eye contact. The boy would just swipe at Volt’s leg with his claws if he thought he could get away with it. The boy crouched and slowly reached out with one hand-talon, trying to keep as much distance between himself and the human as possible. His shaking claws clicked against the jar as he closed them around the glass bottleneck, and once he had a firm grip he darted back a few paces. He broke eye contact to look into the contents of the jar and cautiously sniff at it. But then hunger overrode paranoia and he started gulping the jelly down like thick fruit punch.

“Volt?” Dotty’s voice wafted from the front door. “Is it safe yet?” 

“Come in the house, but stay in the front hall.” Volt called over his shoulder. He looked back at the boy, who had entered him into another staring contest. 

“Your name,” he finally rasped. “Is...Volt?”

“...Yes.” 

The boy laughed a shrieking cry, which startled Volt in multiple ways.

“That’s stupid! It doesn’t fit you at all.” the boy continued to shake with mirth as he scraped the bottom of the jar with his talons. Volt remembered a future where he took offense to this outburst and the boy would never drop the subject.

“What’s yours, then?” Volt said as he listened more to Dotty’s efforts with the groceries than the answer he’d already heard in his vision.

“Lync,” the boy said proudly. “it fits me  _ much _ better than yours.”

“It does.” Volt agreed, relaxing as he heard the front door lock. “you speak rather well. Did someone teach you?”

“Yeah. A big mean guy who kept me in a cage.” Lync tossed the jar to the floor to break it open, but it stayed intact.

“Please don’t make a bigger mess than you already have.” Volt sighed. Lync made a frustrated noise and kicked the surprisingly sturdy jar against the wall. 

“I don’t care.”

“I do. I have to clean this up.” Volt looked back, just as Dotty was about to sneak up to look at the intruder. He gave her a pointed glare, and she took a tactical retreat.

“I don’t care that you care!” Lync kicked at the glass again, which was just the moment Volt had been waiting for. Lync screamed in pain and fell on the floor, clutching his talon. He had embedded a shard of glass into it, and the future where he flew away and ended up as a corpse in a landfill a week later evaporated in an instant. 

“Stop, stop! You’re making it worse.” Volt strode over the glass, thankful he’d chosen his sturdy boots today, and crouched by the boy. Lync recoiled on instinct.

“Calm down.” Volt held out his hands to show he wasn’t a threat. “Calm down. I’ll get the glass out of your foot, but you  _ need _ to calm down or you will make it _ worse _ .”

Lync glared with tears in his eyes. Volt lifted the talon by its bony ankle, holding it steady. He examined the bloody shard, then in one swift motion held it between his fingers and plucked it out. 

Lync screamed again, but it was short and abrupt. The pain had lessened almost immediately. Volt set the shard down on the floor and looked over the foot again.

Aside from the largest gash that the glass had caused, Lync’s feet were covered in smaller abrasions. Some of the newest ones still had glass bits sticking out of them, but there were plenty of older ones that looked infected. 

“You’re hurt.” Volt said bluntly. “If I don’t clean you up, you’re going to die from this.”

Lync avoided his gaze. He knew it was true, but…

“I don’t want help.”

“I don’t care.” Volt stood up and dragged Lync up from the floor by his arms. “I’ve been helping you all along.”

Volt looked back at Dotty, who was standing by the door and staring at the mess in dismay. 

“Don’t try to clean this up yet. Just stay with Caeb until he wakes up, and tell him what’s going on if he does. You have my phone, right?”

Dotty nodded.

“Good. Just...plug it into the wall and look up how to use the yarrow powder before I get back. And, close the door.” 

Dotty complied immediately. Lync struggled in Volt’s grip, and the fortuneteller remembered that he needed to move quickly.

Volt turned and walked down the dark bedroom hallway and shoved open the door to the hall bathroom with his elbow. He flicked on the lightswitch, kicked the bathmats out of the way, and gently lowered Lync into the tub. 

He turned on the water, and washed his hands with a bar of soap before he let Lync drink from the tap’s stream. Volt stood up to rummage through the mirror cupboard for a pair of tweezers before going back to crouch by the tub and the bird drinking heartily from the tap. 

“I’m going to get the glass out of your feet,” Volt informed Lync, making the boy glace away from the water. “It’s going to hurt, but if you hold still it will be over quickly.”

Lync made a face at him, but lifted his talons up anyway. Volt gripped his ankle as firmly yet gently as he could, and started plucking the glass bits one by one. 

It took 10 minutes to finish the first foot, and nearly just as long with the second one. But eventually, Volt was done with adding to the small pile of bloody shards in the mini trash can by the toilet and moved Lync's talons to the stream of water.

“Wash some of the blood off while I go get your wound medicine, alright?” Lync nodded absently and Volt washed his hands one more time before he left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Volt crunched through the kitchen and stuck his head back into the parlour. Dotty was lounging on some floor cushions by the hidden outlet, playing Crossy Road by the sound of it. Caeb was wide awake now, and watched her progress over her shoulder with bated breath. 

"Caeb, I need the potions. Dotty, did you look up how to use it?”

“Yeah,” Dotty began tapping the phone much more urgently, then showed Volt a herbalist’s blog site with a tutorial video. “The powder is really easy to use, you just sprinkle it on the cuts and let it scab like normal before you bandage it up.” 

“Here Volt!” Caeb proudly held out a paper bag with the logo for Gus’s shop printed on it. Volt reached out, intending only to grab the powder bag from inside it when he noticed a black bug crawling on his hand. 

Lice. Volt begrudgingly took the whole thing. This wouldn’t be the first time he had caught them, which was the only reason he didn’t need Dotty’s instruction for the neem oil. 

“Can we come into the kitchen yet?” Caeb asked.

“It’s too dangerous right now, bud. You guys might need to sleep here tonight while I clean this up.”

“We can help.” Dotty offered hopefully.

“No way.” Volt said, taking two bags of groceries and overturning them. “There’s blood and lice and a lot of glass. You both eat some of the food for dinner and go to sleep on the cushions while I finish cleaning this up.”

“Volt, we can help!” Dotty insisted. “I got my boots on already--”

“I said stay here.” Volt said a bit more forcefully, crumpling the empty plastic bags into a ball. “I don’t want you guys to get cut or catch lice.”

“Can’t we just clean--”

“Dotty, if I hear you or Caeb open this door while I’m working I swear I’ll ground you both for a month.” 

Volt didn’t look at his little sister as he closed the door with just a little more force than necessary. He hated shouting at his siblings, but he would hate getting them hurt or sick much more. 

Caeb’s crossy duck got hit by a train as Dotty sat down heavily by him with a huff. 

“I’m hungry.” He informed her, not quite taking note of her angered expression and body language. 

“I know.” she grumbled. “I am too.”

Caeb grabbed the nearest bag, but all it had was uncooked pasta and cans of beans. 

“I wanna eat cereal.” Caeb tossed aside the bag and reached for another one. 

“For dinner?” Dotty deadpanned, but then remembered she was angry at her older brother. “...I don’t see why not.” She smiled at Caeb and started to help him look.

Volt tied Lync’s properly medicated and badndaged talons in the two plastic bags. “I still have to wash the rest of you,” Volt informed him as he closed the ancient First-Aid kit and shoved it back into their unexplored dungeon of an under-sink cupboard. “so these bags will keep the bandages from getting wet.”

Lync nodded absently as he crunched something in his mouth. Volt blinked and looked up at him.

“...What’re you eating?” He asked, afraid of the answer.

“The bugs.” Lync said, catching another louse on his shoulder and popping it into his mouth. 

“ _ Please _ don’t do that.” Volt sighed as he poured a vial of oil into a half-finished shampoo bottle and shook it vigorously to mix it. “I went through all this trouble to get medicine to rid of them.”

“You can?!” Lync sat up excitedly. “I’ve been trying to kill them  _ forever _ , but they keep coming back!”

“That’s because you’ve been killing the adults, but not the eggs.” Volt squirted a handful of homemade anti-lice shampoo onto his hand and began rubbing it onto Lync’s arms.

“I never saw any eggs.” Lync retorted. “But I definitely would have crushed them by now.”

“They’re too small to see without a microscope. Now close your eyes” Volt made Lync lean forwards to massage the soap into his hair-feathers.

“What’s a microscope?” Lync asked.

Volt paused. “It’s a...what’s the word...machine. That lets you see things that are really small.”

“I can see small things when I press my eyes real hard.”

“You what.”

“When I do this.” Lync lifted his head and opened his eyes to squint at Volt, and accidentally got shampoo in his eyes.

As Lync screamed and splashed Volt with soapy, muddy water full of half-drowned lice, clawing at his eyes in pain, Volt knew this was going to be a very long night.


	3. Chapter 3

It was already 12 am by the time the bath was finished, and all of Volts hard work paid off as he towel-dried a cooing Lync, who was busy admiring his own lavender and powder-pink feathers. His eyes were still a bit red from the squinting incident, but he was much more relaxed. 

Volt sat Lync on the closed toilet seat to take off the plastic bags and rebandage his feet. Volt noticed that some of the smaller wounds had scabbed over already, but the bigger ones were still leaking blood. Volt took out another roll of gauze from an almost empty first-aid kit and the bag of cotton balls from behind the clutter of junk in the sink cupboard that Volt hadn’t found the time to organise. Lync watched in fascination as Volt added more yarrow to the still bleeding gashes, pressed cotton into them and tied it all in place with the bandages.

“Alight,” Volt leaned over to rinse his hands in the tub. “you can sleep in my room for awhile. I still have to clean up the glass and blood in the kitchen, and when I come back I need to put another coat of oil on your feathers to kill those eggs I was talking about.”

Lync nodded and let Volt hug him around the middle and lift him off the toilet. He perked his head up to see where he was going as Volt carried him down the hall.

Volt’s room was directly across from Caeb’s, because while Volt was the one paying the bills Dotty was the one who needed a bedroom with a personal bathroom attached. So, she got the master bedroom, and Volt got the second kid’s room. It wasn’t anything Volt minded, but he did sometimes wish that he got a little more space for his size.

Volt set Lync’s towel burrito down on the floor under the ceiling vent. The heating system was usually broken, but maybe Lync would get lucky. 

Volt glanced at his bed, and got an idea. He whipped off the sheets and tucked them around Lync, removing the damp towel only when Lync was fully swaddled in the blanket cave. 

“I’m gonna leave you here while I go clean up the kitchen. If you need anything call me, but otherwise just sit tight and wait until I come back, alright?”

Lync nodded vigorously, and Volt walked out, leaving the door open behind him. Lync listened to his footsteps thud down the hall, then crunch over glass again for a few moments. Then, there was a new sound, a repetitive noise made by glass bits sliding across the floor. Lync couldn’t begin to guess what Volt was doing, so he put it out of his mind.

Lync felt weirdly calm about everything that happened so far. Normally, even the humans that wanted to help Lync were only interested in tossing him scraps, and got annoyed or called trappers when Lync came back for more. This human also went through a lot of trouble to help Lync with his bug problem, which usually was the thing that made the rest of them scream and try to bat him with a broom. 

Lync liked Volt. Volt gave him good food, washed off his feathers, and told him about microscopes and the soap aisle at WalMart. The old jerk that kept him in a cage never taught him anything but lame party tricks to perform for dinner guests. 

Lync shivered and pulled the blankets around himself. He hated thinking about that. He hated it when he couldn’t make his brain think of other things when he started remembering the man and the birdcage...

A familiar song wafted from the kitchen. Volt was humming again, to the rhythm of the sliding glass, and it set Lync at ease. This new human was a lot nicer than the old one, and even if he did have any cages lying around Lync could just break through his window again and escape. He wasn’t worried that he could take him on in a fight. In fact, Lync could stand up right now and walk out--

Lync winced as a stab of pain went through his foot and lay back down. He’d forgotten all about the condition his feet were in. If he’d been stuck in the woods with this kind of injury, a wolf pack would have followed him and waited for him to try to drink from a stream to attack. 

Lync clenched his teeth and pulled the sheets over his head. Why did his brain keep doing that. Why why why…

Lync listened to the distant humming, breathing in the smell of the bedsheets and the shampoo. He had to sleep. He was going to hurt himself if he didn’t try to sleep right. Now.

Lync closed his eyes and tried to bring back some of the better memories of the day he’d just had. Like that morning, when he found a warm thermal that let him soar up higher than his tired muscles would let him flap. And when he killed and ate those ducklets at the pond, they were too busy eating breadcrumbs that a toddler was throwing for their mom to realise they were being hunted. The toddler sure was screaming a lot when he killed them, it was kind of funny. The angry mom and the men with guns definitely weren’t funny, though. Lync had barely lost the men in the forest, and by then he’d had already thrown up the ducklings to lessen his weight for quick flight, so he was super hungry all over again. He decided to try to quick raid a house for a meal, and tried to choose one that didn’t have a window. That didn’t go so well, but at least he got a weird apple without a core for his trouble. And then Volt appeared, and he got a bath to kill the bug eggs that were so small that squinting wouldn’t even let you see them. 

It was a weird day, even for Lync. But it all worked out. Somehow.

Lync shivered and pulled the sheets tighter around himself. The bath was warm, and so were the blankets and his newly fluffed feathers, but he was feeling really cold now. He rubbed the softer parts of his talons over his arms, and tried to curl up his legs without disturbing his cotton-wrapped feet. 

The humming hadn’t stopped, so Lync focused on it.  [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5WJ8aYt6r8 ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5WJ8aYt6r8)

He listened to the how it sounded, how the beginning became the middle and how the ending snuck up on him and before he knew it the song had looped around back into its beginning. He listened to it as the sounds of glass became smaller and smaller and Volt’s voice began to wane. Eventually, he couldn’t continue, and the humming stopped altogether.

Volt was going over every single kitchen surface with some ancient disinfectant wipes he had found in the back of the utility closet. He was glad he had remembered them in his visions, but at the same time he was baffled that they hadn’t dried out yet. 

He glanced up at the oven clock. 4:48 blinked back at him in green analog numbers, and Volt felt the exhaustion creeping up around the corners of his consciousness grow just a little bit more. He yawned, and his hoarse throat protested. He had been humming for at least two hours while he worked. 

Thankfully, Volt had already wiped the blood in the hallway and the bathroom while it was fresh. The thought of scraping more dried blood with his already aching fingers would have been too much for him to bear. He kicked off his boots, finally, and after briefly wiping the soles he set them down by the kitchen door. 

Volt paused, remembering his earlier outburst at Dotty. He reached out to clasp the dented brass handle, and opened the door just a crack.

Dotty and Caeb were asleep, curled up on the cushions surrounded by Apple Jacks crumbs, using the tablecloth as a blanket. The cereal box was almost empty, and it was pretty obvious that neither of them had brushed their teeth. Caeb snored suddenly, and grabbed the blanket off of Dotty. Dotty grumbled in her sleep and rolled over, grabbing a wall sheet in her sleep and tugging at it restlessly.

Volt closed the door as quietly as he could. There was only one more thing to clean off before he eliminated the futures where his siblings catch a debilitating disease from this fiasco: himself. He had probably caught Lync’s lice by now, and even though he’d made sure to kill as many of them as he could earlier he would need to make sure the microscopic eggs were killed as well. 

The water from the showerhead was bitingly cold, but Volt was used to it. He took the empty shampoo bottle, twisted off the top and filled the bottle with water. They were out of liquid soap, so Volt only had the diluted dregs of the oil/shampoo mix to wash himself with. 

It only took Volt ten minutes to be done with the shower, five minutes longer than usual. He was wide awake and shivering as he dried himself off with a stiff hand towel, but he still needed to apply a coat of neem oil to himself to let the medicine take effect. He uncorked one of the remaining vials, poured half of it out into his hand and recorked it. 

As he applied the medicine, the silence of the house pressed on his ears. He considered humming to fill the silence with something, but his raw throat sent him a hearty stab of pain to remind him of how badly he’d abused his humming privileges. 

Volt was just pulling on some clean clothes when he heard a whistling tune from the other room. Volt paused to listen, then opened the door and stepped out into the hall. 

Lync whistled Volt’s song, mostly because it was stuck in his head, but also to calm his own nerves. He had been sitting on the floor for quite some time, too nervous to fall asleep and too tired to move from his spot. Maybe it was the yellowish glow of the hall light fixture, or the sore spots slowly forming on his skin. Whatever it was, it was keeping Lync up. And while he was up, he might as well whistle.

A shadow fell over Lync’s blanket bundle, and he relaxed a little bait. That was it, the light was shining in his eyes! That’s why he couldn’t sleep. He curled up and let his mind drift off...

Volt gently poked Lync awake. An indigent ‘chrr’ came from somewhere in the blankets, and Lync poked his head out to blink sleepily at him.

“Medicine time.” Volt said, showing Lync the vial. Lync lay his head back down with a huff and pulled the blankets tighter around himself.

“Don’t be like that.” Volt tugged the blankets off and uncorked the vial. He grabbed Lync’s arm and began massaging the oil into his bedraggled feathers, a process which Lync pretended to sleep through for the next few minutes. 

Volt stifled a deep yawn as he continued applying medicine. He had no idea how late it was, but he was so tired by now that he was falling asleep sitting up. Lync certainly wasn’t helping by going limp and making Volt have to lift him up to get the oil into his feathers.

Volt yawned again, much longer this time. Were the lights flickering, or was his vision was blacking out…?

Lync squirmed out of Volt’s failing grip and pecked his arm painfully. Volt winced and grabbed the offended limb as Lync sulked back into his blankets. 

Which future was this? Volt tried to recall his vision to see where he was. 

Lync broke his concentration by sitting heavily on his lap, blanket pulled over his shoulders like a superhero cape. Lync pushed Volt with his head to lay down on the floor, and Volt compiled before his exhausted mind could think of protesting. Lync curled up by Volt’s chest, nuzzling into his neck and using his shoulder like a pillow. 

Volt gave up. He wrapped his arms around Lync’s blanket and hugged the boy close for warmth. The eggs can wait, Volt thought to himself, and drifted off before he could think anything else. 

Lync listened to him snore for awhile, then whistled Volt's lullaby until he'd whistled himself to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Volt had stopped in the middle of brushing his teeth. Lync didn’t seem to notice and continued preening his feathers in his corner of the bathroom. Caeb didn’t either, for a moment. Volt had been moaning about his hangover headache since he woke up that morning. But a few more moments of stillness passed, which could only mean one thing. Caeb blinked up at his older brother, observing the worried expression gathering on his face.

“What’ja see?” He asked. Volt gripped the edge of the sink bowl, looking pale.

“I…” Volt swallowed his toothpaste.

Caeb tugged at Volt’s shirt to snap him out of it. “It was about the Necromancer, right?”

“Necro…” Volt swallowed again.

Lync even looked up to see what the matter was. Volt was shaking now, looking like he might bolt out of the room and try to stop the horrible future he’d seen with his own two hands. Instead, he turned and kelt to hug Caeb.

“There’s so many futures.” Volt whispered, holding his little brother tight. “If I just hadn’t told him where to find Gus...it’s all my fault...”

Caeb patted Volt’s arm. “No, it’s Keith’s fault. He’s a stupidhead.”

Volt laughed, once, surprised by the comment but still distraught. He held Caeb a bit longer until Lync hopped down from the tub and walked past them.

“DOTTY! I’M HUNGRY AND VOLT IS CRYING!” Lync screamed at the top of his lungs from the kitchen.

“He’s what?!” Dotty yelled back.

Volt stood up and wiped his eyes as Dotty bolted into the bathroom and grappled the doorframe as she skidded to a stop.

“Volt? What happened?”

Volt shrugged and smiled in a way he hoped wasn’t forced. Behind him, Caeb exchanged a solemn glace with Dotty, which fell away the moment Volt turned to see what Dotty was looking at.

“He just saw the future I’d been worrying about, that’s all.” Caeb said breezily as Dotty grabbed Volt in her own hug. “We’ll talk about it more after school.”

“GUYS WHERE ARE YOU I'M HUNGRY.” Lync screamed from the kitchen.

“SHUT UP I'M COMING. “ Volt yelled back, sidestepping Dotty when she let go and walking to the kitchen. It was about time he made breakfast, anyway.

Grilled cheese sandwiches and apple slices was an unconventional breakfast, but it beat having cereal and milk for the third time that week. He made two sandwiches and gave Caeb and Dotty each half of one apple. He and Lync weren’t in a hurry to catch a bus, so their food could wait. Although, that didn’t stop Lync from trying to steal some scraps from the kid’s plates at the same Volt was cutting him his own apple.

Caeb and Dotty took two lunchboxes from the kitchen counter and hugged Volt as he was making a sandwich for himself on the stove. Lync sat on the table, eating apple slices by spearing them on his claws and eating them off. He nearly speared his own tongue when Caeb and Dotty gave him a hug as well.

“Today’s Thursday.” Dotty reminded him. “Remember our instructions?”

Lync nodded, mouth too full of apple to say anything. Caeb beamed proudly and followed Dotty as they both ran out the door to catch the bus.

The front door slammed and the house fell into a silence that pressed on Lync’s ears. He still felt the arms of the siblings around his shoulders, like their ghosts were still hugging him goodbye.

Volt broke the illusion by scraping off his sandwich from the frying pan onto a plate and loudly cutting it in two. He sat down next to Lync and offered him half, which Lync bit into greedily.

“You’re hungry today.” Volt chuckled.

“Yeah, I’m gonna be flying for a long time, so I gotta stock up.”

Volt’s smile wavered. “You’re leaving?”

Lync nodded, talking with his mouth full. “Dotty told me about this vision she had where I get really sick in my guts, so she and Caeb found a future where I visit a guy who helps me get better for free. I just need to fly in a certain direction and I’ll bump into him in the forest.”

“She did?” Lync glanced over his shoulder and was surprised to see Volt’s brow creased with worry. “She didn’t mention anything about it to me...”

Lync said nothing, as he was too busy licking the apple juice off his plate. He hopped off the chair he was sitting on and handed the plate to Volt.

“I’m gonna take a nap before I leave, kay?”

Volt took the plate, reluctantly. “Can you at least wait until the kids get back? I want to ask them about this so we can all make a decision together.”

Lync tilted his head. “I don’t have a problem, I guess. But,” Volt turned to set the dish down in the sink. “She said it was really important that I get there at a certain time this afternoon. I’m not sure what will happen if I’m late.”

Volt paused. Lync decided that his nap wasn’t going to wait any longer, so he un-tilted his head and marched himself to Volt’s room and took a few minutes to rearrange his bed into a comfortable harpy nest.

Lync curled up on the cushions, sighing deeply. Dotty’s exact instructions were to take a nap, then wake up in the afternoon and fly towards the sun until it stopped shining. Lync hated flying like that, half blinded by the very landmark he was supposed to be using to find his way. He could still see where he was going by watching the ground, but not looking in front of you while flying tends to have a lot of consequences.

Lync’s train of thought was broken when heard Volt’s footsteps approaching, then padding across the carpet of the bedroom.

The mattress suddenly dipped under his weight. Volt leaned over to pull a blanket around Lync’s shoulders, then patted his friend's head.

“I trust Dotty’s word,” He said finally, quietly. “and I don’t think this is something you’d make up for no reason, Lync. I’ll trust you, too.”

Lync smiled as he fell asleep, and dreamt of crisp apples and crunchy spiders.

* * *

Lync had been flying over the forest for the past 15 minutes, trying to find a breeze that was travelling in his direction. He noticed a few squirrels leaping through the branches below him. They were lazy and unassuming, tempting him to stop and grab a snack, but he shook himself and squinted towards the sun again.

Would he really have to fly towards the sun until it set? Lync was having trouble imagining where he’d end up if he flew for that long. If anything, it worried him that he might not be able to make it back home for breakfast tomorrow.

A shadow fell over his field of vision. Lync blinked and glanced back up at the sun.

A cloud had covered it, it was no longer shining into his eyes.

No longer shining…

Lync looked below, and noticed a clearing in the trees. An old ramshackle building was partially hidden by the canopy, surrounded on all sides by miles of forest. As Lync circled, hearing the cries of animals and the smell of feed from within, he realised it was a barn.

Lync alighted on a nearby tree to get a better look. The sun was still covered by the cloud, but he could see a small cottage right next to the barn. A wisp of smoke rose up from the chimney, but it was so thin and frail that it blew apart before it became a beacon to the house’s location.

The doors of the barn suddenly swung open. To Lync’s surprise and horror, a huge frilled lizard’s head poked out. Then another, then a third. The barn doors bumped aside as a silvery grey three-headed dragon plodded out into the yard, stretching its leathery wings.

Two of the three heads turned to one side, tongues flicking out as someone stepped out from behind the monster to feed it a large, furred corpse. The dragon’s two greedier heads began to fight over the snack, but the middle one made them walk forward towards a water trough. The dragon’s apparent caretaker turned to a water pump, washing blood off curved talons. Suddenly, he looked up directly at the nosy harpy that had trespassed on his territory.

Lync’s blue eyes locked with the red ones he had flown all the way here to meet, and he was gripped with fear like he’d never known before.

“VOLT!”  


Dotty’s scream snapped the fortune teller from his vision. Volt stood up so quickly that the chair he was sitting on fell over, ready to run to the back door where the scream had come from. But Dotty and Caeb burst into the kitchen before he could move, their bookbags knocked askew from running but still hanging off their shoulders.

“Volt, I shot him! You have to help.” Dotty looked like she was on the verge of tears. Caeb, surprisingly, looked not at all worried but terribly annoyed.

“I*huff*told her*puff*not to, okay?” Caeb panted. “He hit his head*hahh*when he fell over, and it’s Dotty’s fault!”

“Hey, don’t talk like that about your sister.” Volt was still processing that there was an unconscious person that got knocked out with a homemade gun and hit his head. It seemed his train of thought was a little out of order today.

“Just,” Volt pressed his fingers to the sides of his head. “Show me where he is. And, bring the First Aid kit?"

Sure enough, when Caeb led him to the back door that they usually used to enter the house when Wizard Proxy was open for business, there was a boy about Dotty’s age kneeling next to an unconscious man with a bleeding cut just above his eyebrow. The boy looked up when Volt knelt down beside him, chirped in surprise and grabbed him in a hug.

“Wh--Lync!?” Volt hugged him back, feeling no feathers or scaly talons on his skeletally thin frame. “You could disguise yourself as a human? This whole time?!”

“No, I couldn’t!” Lync pouted at the accusation. “Not until I met Shadow, anyway. He gave me a magic thingy to wear.”

Volt loosened his hold and looked down at the unconscious man slowly bleeding out in the grass. He was wearing tattered jeans and a faded, dirtstained plaid shirt, but no shoes. He couldn’t have been older than Volt, but the corners of his eyes had smile lines and his hands seemed gnarled with wear and tear.

“This is Shadow?” Volt asked Lync, letting go of his friend and bending over the stranger.

“Yeah.” Lync sat back on the grass so he wouldn’t be in Volt’s way. “He’s the guy who Dotty and Caeb foresaw. He’s creepy and really weird but he’s nice once you get to know ‘im.”

Dotty came back with the kit, and Volt got to work. He wiped the blood away with a damp napkin, disinfected the cut with an alcohol swab, pressed cotton into the cut and tied it in place with guaze.

“That should do it.” Volt lifted Shadow up and carried him sideways through the door. Lync stood to follow them, but Dotty stepped in front of him and blocked his way.

“You didn’t follow my instructions.” Dotty growled, crossing her arms more forcefully than Lync could take seriously. “You were supposed to eat, nap, then LEAVE.”

“I wanted Volt to know what I was doing! I don’t wanna get in trouble.” Lync rebutted and tried to walk around her.

Dotty moved to block him again. “You weren’t gonna get in trouble. You would have made everything a lot EASIER, though!”

“Easier how?!” Lync tried shoving her out of the way, but she grabbed his hands and tried to wrestle him off.

“It was supposed to go a lot faster!” Dotty yelled, not caring who heard. “But you RUINED it! Now Volt’s going to take MONTHS to get anywhere with him!”

“What does that mean?” Lync screamed in frustration as Dotty threw him off again.

“I’d like to know that too, if you don’t mind.” Volt asked from the doorway.

Dotty’s arms went limp and Lync shoved past both her and Volt to get the the kitchen and some well-earned dinner. Dotty stayed where she was, Volt’s eyes boring into the back of her skull.

“So tell me more about this guy,” Volt continued slowly. “And the futures you were planning out for him without telling me.”

Dotty swallowed, took a deep breath, and swallowed again.

“You weren’t happening to be planning on setting me up with another complete stranger, would you Dotty?”

“I know what he’s like!” Dotty defended, turning around and looking Volt in the eye to show her resolve. “And he’s a really good match for you! He might even be your Soulmate!”

“And if he was, how were you planning on letting me meet him? By sending Lync off somewhere and making me think he’s dead? So I could go searching through the forest by myself and leave you two alone in the house, worried that any one of you could drop dead while I’m on my solo mission of-of complete desperation?”

Dotty wilted with every successive hole Volt punched into her plan to play cupid for him and her supposed new uncle.

Volt sighed, then stepped down onto the grass to stand in front of his sister.

“It’s one thing to see the future, Dotty. But, you can’t let what you see determine everything about your life. Neither you nor I have met Shadow up until now, yet you’re convinced that he might be trustworthy enough to be family.”

Dotty stared down at her shoes, chewing her lip in a rapidly failing attempt to not cry. Volt noticed, and swallowed his next sentence. He sighed, ruffled his kid sister’s hair, and knelt onto one knee to talk to her face-to-face.

“Look,” He said gently. “I trust you. I trust that you had only the best intentions at heart, but you didn’t execute it well this time around. If you want to make plans based on your visions, then tell me and Caeb, keep us in the loop. If you want to set me up with a guy you think is nice, tell me so I can have a say in the plans you’re making about my love life. If we keep our visions secret from each other, that’s only a recipe for disaster. Got it?”

Dotty nodded, head still bowed. Volt looked closer at her face, just now noticing she’d been crying. He hugged her to his shoulder with one arm do he could dig into his pocket for a tissue with the other. He tried to hand it to her but she had already burrowed her face into his shoulder.

“I’m-m *hic*sorry-y.” she said after a minute.

“It’s ok, it wasn’t such a huge mess this time. We just gotta talk to each other more in the future, ok?” Dotty nodded enthusiastically. Volt kissed her forehead and let go of her to stand back up. “Let’s go back inside. I kind of left Shadow on the couch, and Lync and Caeb probably want dinner.”

“Yup, I reaaaally do!” Lync stuck his head out of the door. “I’ve been flying alllll day and I’m suuuper hungry~”

Volt just chuckled wearily, gesturing for Dotty to enter the house before he did. She did, slowly, massaging the tears out of her eyes with the palms of her hands as she hobbled up the steps. Volt went into the house afterward, asking his siblings for dinner suggestions as he closed the door behind him.


	5. Chapter 5

The phone rang, interrupting the conversation they were all having over lunch. Volt stood up to answer it, and all at the table fell silent so as not to be overheard by a potential customer. Volt hit the answer button and put the phone to his ear "You've reached Wizard Proxy, this is Volt speaking, how can i help you?"   
  
"Cut that shit out Volt!" Gus’s shrill voice made him jump. "The guy you told to find me is dying on my couch. But I'm sure you probably  _ knew _ that would happen."   
  
"Good morning for you too Gus." Volt rolled his eyes and leaned on the kitchen counter. "And yes, I was just helping him. But now, seeing clearly, I regret this decision. Maybe you should let him die. I will help you later with the body."   
  
Gus coughed an incredulous laugh. "I don't have time for jokes Volt!"   
  
"I wish I was joking. Let him die, I will come to your place and help you hide the body.”   
  
"Volt I can't let him die!” He was getting so loud and panicked that Volt took the phone off his ear. “This is wrong! Besides, I was about to make some good business before he passed out."   
  
"Trust me Gus, I wouldn't ask for you to do this if I wasn't serious. He will give you trouble in the future."   
  
"Just…” Gus’s sigh cracked over the speaker. “Tell me what should I do to save him." He sounded more scared and unsure in that moment than Volt had ever known him to be.

Volt glanced over to his siblings. Caeb mimed taking his shirt off, while Dotty was comically mouthing ‘S-H-I-R-T-O-F-F’. "I was expecting for you to ignore me but I still got hope. Take off his shirt, it will help him breath. Good luck." he hung up.

“So we had the chance to let him die? Just now?” Shadow remarked from his end of the table, peeling an orange with his fingernails. “What did Bluey say to get you to change your mind?”

“Nothing,” Volt sat down next to him and took another bite from his unfinished plate of curry and rice. “We already foresaw this a while ago and discussed the best course of action.”

“Letting Keith die there wouldn’t have worked.” Dotty said, scraping the bottom of her own plate to gather enough rice for the last few bites. “Keith is a powerful and extremely paranoid witch. He had multiple failsafes in place that would destroy his body if he died for any number of reasons.”

“Tellin Gus to let Keith die wassa scare tactic.” Caeb took a long sip from his juice. “He needs t’know that we don’t trust Keith, and that’s gonna keep him suspi-shus.”

“Keep him suspicious of Keith.” Dotty corrected, taking her empty plate and cup to the sink.

Shadow blinked at them, then leaned over to Volt. “Yo...you sure these are kids? And not like, Aliens that took over their minds?”

Volt elbowed his houseguest sharply, and Shadow burst into laughter.

Lync snored suddenly, having just rearranged his arms on the table to make a better pillow for his head. Shadow cooed and patted his cryptid friend's hair.

“Alright, back to what we were discussing.” Volt lowered his voice nd turned his attention back to the mess of non-lunch related items on the table. They had all been arranging random knick knacks into a kind of makeshift war diagram. 

“So the Wind Titan and the Fire Titan are in the Stratosphere and Magma-filled Mantle.” He moved a plastic lizard toy and a sippy cup with a bird on it to the sides of the table. “So we’re not gonna bother with them because they’ll be more protected if we pretend like we know nothing about them. Keith’s already got the Light Titan,” Volt moved a cats-eye marble onto an empty tea saucer that represented the necromancer in question. 

“The Water Titan has a bit of a cult following, and I know this ‘cause a good friend of mine is part of it.” Shadow grabbed an arcade token with a fish printed on the side and plunked it into his glass of water. “She’s pretty powerful, even if she’s better at hiding than at fighting.”

“You said she’s already being hunted.” Dotty slid a butter knife across the table and pointed it at Shadow’s glass and coin.

Caeb grabbed a fork and set it on top of the knife with a clatter. “Those guys hate all witches. They don’t know about th’ orb, they just want Mylene dead.”

“If they come to Youphis, they’ll set their sights on all of us.” Dotty said grimly. 

Shadow waved off the somber prediction. “They won’t find my house if I’m hiding it from them. You guys tell me if you see them coming to town and I’ll let you guys come over. It’ll be like a sleepover!”

Caeb and Dotty perked up at that. 

“So that leaves,” Volt held up a spool of black thread and a rock paperweight. “The Titan of Darkness and the Titan of the Earth. Shadow, what was it you were saying about your dragon Hades...?”

“You meeeeeeean,” Shadow reached across the table and snagged a spool of grey string. “This lil guy?’

“He’s not little,” Caeb interjected. “He’s taller than Volt!”

Shadow chuckled. “I’ve raised this dude from an egg. He’s a dragon descendant of the Dark Titan, and he’s one of only a few creatures on this planet that can sniff out his old man. If we can find the Titan first and convince him to come to our side, we can defeat Keith for sure.” 

“Like Mira did with the Earth Titan.” Dotty moved a bit of Shadow’s discarded orange peel and set it next to the rock.

An uneasy silence settled over the table. 

“So, you guys are sure you can’t track her?” Shadow asked in a low voice “Not even with your visions?”

“Caeb can.” Volt said quietly. “But only when he enters the Trance. If he stays too long, he’ll never come back.”

“I’ll come back,” Caeb defended. “But you’ll all be gone by then. And if that happens I’ll miss you, so I don’t want to do that.” 

That elected a weary smile from Volt, but only worsened the perturbed feeling in the pits of Dotty and Shadow’s stomachs. 

“She must be a powerful witch.” Dotty said finally. “And smart, since she knows how to block us and keep us blocked for this long.”

“Maybe she has help?” Shadow suggested. “From the titan she’s keeping with her, or maybe she’s another fortune teller?”

“She’s not.” Caeb said firmly. “And she doesn’t have anyone with that kind of magic following her.”

“She has followers?” Shadow asked. “What, is she like a cult leader?”

“N-no.” Caeb seemed unsure now. “But there’s, someone. I think they might have shapeshifting magic, because they look different every time I find them…”

“We shouldn’t have to worry about her for now.” Volt said quickly, sensing Caeb’s frustration. “If she can scramble our signal, then there’s a good chance she’s more protected than we are.”

“That’s not exactly a good thing.” Shadow laughed. “She might be as power-hungry as her brother.”

“I hope not.” Caeb said, so softly that no one heard.

“So, tell us more about Hades, Shadow.” Volt seemed eager to change the topic. “Do you know when he’ll be ready to start looking for his ancestor?”

“Hmm, not exactly.” Shadow mused. “I was kinda hoping you guys would, if that makes sense? ‘Cause like, I’ve raised my share of dragons, but this guy is a whoooole ‘nother breed. He surprises me every day.”

Volt and Dotty looked to Caeb instantly, but Caeb wasn’t looking back at them.

“I can’t see the future of someone I haven’t seen b’fore without goin into the Trance.” He reminded. 

“I can take you to meet him!” Shadow said quickly. “He’s a friendly guy, not that great with...anyone, but I can make sure he’s sedated enough to be around--”

Lync yawned and stretched, rubbing the sore spots on his face where he’d been resting his cheek on hard bone, blinking slowly.

“Welcome back, lil dude.” Shadow reached over and ruffled the harpy’s hair. 

Lync leaned into his touch and cooed contentedly. “What time is it?” He muttered.

Shadow checked the oven’s clock. “16:30. Whoops.” He stood up, scraping his chair as he did. “I gotta get back home before it gets dark. C’mon Lync, I still need to give you your antivirals.”

“You’re leaving?” Dotty asked in her best pleading voice as Lync stood up and followed Shadow to the door.

“Yeah, sorry kiddo.” He let Lync walk past him outside “We’ll both drop by tomorrow if your big bro invites me, though!”

“Tomorrow’s the weekend!” Caeb said excitedly, but then drooped. “Which means we’ll be having a lot of customers in the shop…”

“I’ve got a lot of work to do too,” Shadow shrugged, flashing a playful smile. “but when it’s done I’ll buy some icecream for everybody, m’kay?”

“We’ll hold you to that.” Dotty warned. Shadow nodded to her as he stepped out the door. He raised his eyebrows at Volt in a way that he was thinking said ‘aliens’ and that Volt thought meant ‘you’ve got rude siblings’.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?” Volt offered one last time, stepping out the back door to see them off. Lync perked up at the mention of food. 

But Shadow shook his head at Lync, then reached out and patted Volt’s shoulder. “Thanks for the offer, but it’s going to be night soon. If we don’t head back now we might not get there at all.”

“Alright then. But before you go, I’m gonna need you to hold your arms out.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow, but when he realised Volt wasn’t joking he hesitantly complied. Volt began patting Shadow down, but since his pockets were empty it was over quickly.

“You don’t trust me?” Shadow asked with a humorously offended voice.

“We met seven hours ago.” Volt shrugged, smiling. “It’s not like we have much worth taking, but replacing silverware or a wallet is going to be more strain on my budget than I need this month.”

“Reasonable.” Shadow waved over his shoulder as he walked off. “See you soon, honey~”

“Uh, yeah. Okay.” Volt waved back, not sure how to respond otherwise. He stood by the doorway, watching the pair walk off into the treeline. Then, just like that, they were gone.

Volt closed the door, leaning on the kitchen counter. “Caeb,” Volt massaged his forehead with his fingertips. “do you know when’s the next time I can go drinking?”

“Two months from now.” Caeb said dryly.

“...Anytime sooner, Dotty?”Volt tried again. He knew his siblings hated it when he went out to get drunk but some days he really, really needed it.

“Tonight’s safe,” Dotty mused. “But you’re not gonna like who you run into. Just keep a lid on your temper and you won’t get injured.”

Ceab glared at his sister, but Volt looked satisfied. “I’m not leaving the house until you both finish your homework and get into bed, alright?”

“Okaaaaay.” Caeb groaned and jumped off his spot on the table to get his backpack. Dotty and Volt cleaned the table of lunch’s mess to make room for homework mess.

Homework took an hour and a half, after-homework playtime was 2 hours, dinner was another hour total to prepare and eat, youtube time took 45 minutes, and finally getting ready for bed took 20 minutes longer than it strictly needed to because Caeb was purposefully being difficult. He refused to go to sleep if Volt didn’t stay and sleep first. 

“You’re gonna fall asleep before I do.” Volt warned as Caeb scooted over to make room for him on his twin-mattress size bed.

“No I’m not.” Caeb said with a hint of scheming determination. Volt rolled his eyes and sat down next to his little brother.

“How about I read to you to pass the time?” Volt suggested after some awkward silence.

“You already read me all of them.” Caeb shrugged.

“You’re right.” Volt glanced over the worn spines of childrens books that lined Caeb’s bookshelf-desk and lay down. “You know what, we should go to the library sometime.”

“That’s across town!” Caeb complained, rolling over.

“You don’t like taking the bus?” Volt asked.

“...The last time we went I sat on a chair that someone spilled juice on.” Caeb grumbled.

Volt forced himself not to smile. There was another stretch of silence, that Volt decided to fill with the old lullaby he’d hummed to Lync just two weeks back. His mind wandered as he hummed.

So much had happened, and even though nothing about his daily or weekly routines had so much as budged throughout the whole ordeal, Volt felt his life might never be the same again. He thought back to the two fortunes Dotty and Caeb had given to Gus in exchange for the materials needed to save Lync. ere they really worth anything, if Gus was going to save that bloodthirsty necromancer anyway?

Volt was about to hum the tune again from the start, when he heard a soft snore from his brother. He smiled despite himself, getting up as carefully and quietly as he could. He tucked Caeb in and closed the desk light. He left the light in the hall open, however, propping the door open so Caeb would still have light when he woke up.

Volt didn’t have the money to go out to a bar, but he did buy a bottle of whiskey the last time he went out for groceries. He opened the small cupboard above the stove, thinking of the places he could go to get drunk. 

He liked to go to other people’s houses to drink, mostly to keep from waking his siblings and, though he wouldn’t admit it, because it made him feel like less of a loser to be drinking alone. Maybe Gus was free tonight, but Volt wasn’t sure how he felt about calling him up after the exchange they had at lunch. It’d be more polite to meet him in person and ask how everything went. For the purposes of seeing which timeline they ended up on, of course.

After about a minute of groping at empty air in the cabinet, Volt realised the whiskey was missing.

He stood on tiptoe and peered into the recesses of the compartment. He hadn’t even openedthe bottle since he bought it two days ago. Did Caeb find a way to get to it…?

He looked closer at the bottom of the cabinet, at minute scratches in the woodwork, too long and fresh to have been made by Volt.

So, Shadow did take something after all.

Volt closed the cabinet and went to his room instead. Under his bed was a safe in an indent in the floor, hidden under a few boxes of junk. He pushed them aside, entered the safe’s code and popped the door open. Within the safe, among other things of varying value, was a small circular mirror with minute carvings of runes etched into the rim. Volt fished it out

“Shadow Prove.” He whispered, still lying facedown on his bedroom floor. The mirror showed him that the crafty beast tamer was pouring himself a glass of stolen alcohol as he spoke. 

Volt put the mirror back and fished out another trinket from the safe: an ancient scroll of blank parchment. He took a small plastic bag out of his pocket that held a roll of Shadow’s bloody bandages. He touched the unsanitary rag to a corner of the paper and mmurmured “By night and by day, show me the way.”

A map of the neighborhood appeared on the surface of the parchment, showing all the people asleep in their houses and the ones who were out enjoying the nightlife, and the animals in the forest who’s day had just begun. Shadow’s house wasn’t as deep into the woods than he thought, he could make the walk on foot. In fact, there was a shortcut if he went through the town until this store...

Volt memorised the route, stashed the artifacts back in the safe, pulled the boxes over it again, grabbed his coat and left the house.

Nighttime in Youphis was somehow more peaceful than it was in the day. The streets were empty, and the half moon lit the town with a feeble silvery glow. There was some light from the streetlamps and the occasional 24 hour convenience store as Volt left the residential areas and entered the outskirts of a shopping district.

Something tugged at the back of Volt’s mind. He wasn’t fully aware why, but before he turned the corner to head for the forest he stopped and glanced over his shoulder.

The street was silent, except for the muted footfalls of two witches walking together on the sidewalk. Even from across the street he could sense who they were. And more importantly, he could sense how much more powerful they both had become in just a few short hours.

Volt let out a disappointed sigh, pulling his coat tighter around his shoulders. He was disappointed, with himself for leading Keith to that store, and disappointed with Gus for letting his own mistake grow bigger than either of them could have imagined. 

He turned on his heel and continued on his way, making a mental note: never trust the future of Vestal-kind in the hands of a man with daddy issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that concludes this fic. Hey thanks for reading it all the way through, it means a lot <3


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